Hard Starting

When you tried it today and you had 12v. to the ballast resistor on both sides did it want to start? Did you try jumping across the resistor again and did it start? Rarely when cranking an engine over will you get 12v. as the starter draw will pull the voltage to under 12v.
Again, hook volt meter to + side of the coil and check voltage while cranking the engine for about 5-10 seconds. What does it read? Does the voltage vary while it's cranking? Can you tell if there is any spark coming from the coil? Any new parts installed recently? Has the gasoline been in the car a long time?